


If loving you is basic, call me alkaline

by chronosaurus (kimnamjin)



Series: Is that a number 2 pencil in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me? [1]
Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe- Non-idol, Alternate Universe- the hot guy is in love with the nerd, First seungjin hell yeah brother, Fluff and Humor, In honor of Seungmin day!!! Happy bday to the only boy ever mr Minnie!, Jeongmin are friendship goals, M/M, Nerd/science boy!Seungmin, Popular/hot guy!Hyunjin, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, U must post seungmin-centric fics today thats the law sorry i dont make the rules, hyunjin is too pretty for this world but thats not even a tag thats irl too, theres a bit of crack too lets be real, theyre all in the same uni, this plot is cliche as fuqq but this is cute i swear
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-21
Updated: 2019-09-21
Packaged: 2020-10-25 12:37:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20724323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kimnamjin/pseuds/chronosaurus
Summary: “Ok, don't look now bu—and you're looking now.” Jeongin’s tone faltered, flattening like it's been steamrolled at the sight of Seungmin vigorously whipping around in his desk to scrutinize the entire class behind them.Everything seems completely normal—oh. Now Seungmin understands.In the far row of desks pressed against the window, is Hwang Hyunjin. Hwang Hyunjin, who does seem to be unabashedly hooking his perpetually sultry gaze right in their direction.Hwang Hyunjin, aka The Pretty Boy™.





	If loving you is basic, call me alkaline

**Author's Note:**

> Happy birthday seungmin! ily have a great day you funky little puppy man

“Dude, he's _ totally _staring at you.” 

Seungmin blinked—once, twice, three times. His eyes are always in a state of owlish agape, yet now his honey brown irises are almost painful vacant and blank as he stared at Jeongin. 

“_ Who’s _staring at me, Jeongin.” He easily replied, absentmindedly straightening out the flurry of chemistry papers spread across their shared desk. 

Jeongin had the audacity to roll his eyes at Seungmin. The _ audacity. _He leaned in, his angular features suddenly thrust right in Seungmin’s own face; to the point where he can feel each of Jeongin’s breaths fan across his skin. 

“Wang Yunjin” Jeongin exaggeratedly whispered, bringing a large hand up to cup the side of his mouth, like he doesn't want that name to escape into the air. 

But..._ what? _ More accurately, _ who? _

Jeongin seemed to take Seungmin’s hollow-eyed and equally tight-lipped expression as a cue to continue. Seungmin could virtually _ hear _ his best friend calling him something along the lines of _ “you goddamn clueless idiot” _in his head.

“Ok, don't look now bu—_ and _ you're looking now.” Jeongin’s tone faltered, flattening like it's been steamrolled at the sight of Seungmin vigorously whipping around in his desk to scrutinize the entire class behind them. They're sat in the front row of desks, so the owl-eyed boy admittedly has the perfect view of the whole chemistry class idly going about their work. 

Nothing seems out of the ordinary: partnered girls and boys are fervently scribbling answers to the questions on their work packets, the occasional pair pouring some candy colored liquid into a beaker, or awkwardly fumbling followed by the metallic _ click _of turning on a particularly ornery Bunsen burner—but everything seems scarily mundane. 

Everything seems fine—_ oh. _Now Seungmin understands. 

In the far row of desks pressed against the window, is Hwang Hyunjin. Hwang Hyunjin, who is in the same chemistry class as Seungmin. Hwang Hyunjin, who _ does _ seem to be unabashedly hooking his perpetually sultry gaze right in their direction. 

Hwang Hyunjin, aka The Pretty Boy™.

At their college, there are the three patron saints of high school stereotypes. 

There's Christopher Bang, The Jock™. Yet despite being as muscular as a gladiator and the undisputed captain of the most intimidating, undefeated swim team in all of Seoul, he's startlingly kind, compassionate, and generally charming. Albeit a little sweaty. 

There's Lee Minho, The Bitch™. He's all snarky comments and dry humor and back handed compliments all served up nice and pretty on a tarnished silver platter. But in spite of the wily sparkle in his sharp eyes and the cat-like upturn to the corners of his eternally smirking lips, there's never really any bite behind his bark. 

And last, but _ certainly _not least: Hwang Hyunjin. The Pretty Boy™. And that's the most accurate moniker if ever there was one. 

All sexual identities are thrown to the wind when Hyunjin is involved. If you have a functioning pulse, then you either have—or currently _ are _crushing on Hwang Hyunjin. 

Even _ Jeongin _ had his phase of being Hyunjin-ed. Yes, it's a goddamn _ verb _at their college. Like a siren to an unsuspecting sailor, Jeongin found himself gradually falling for those starry brown eyes and impossibly thick lips and his patented goofy, lopsided smiles. 

He even went to the trouble of dying his previously blonde hair _ pink, _all because a friend of his friend heard from a senior that Hyunjin has a particular fondness for the shade.

It turns out, after some hard hitting detective work—_ read: _ Jeongin mustering the courage to ask Hyunjin’s roommate, Minho (yes, _that _Minho)—he figured out that Hyunjin _ hates _ the color pink. With a passion. In reality, his friend’s senior buddy _ somehow _got Hyunjin confused with the goth kid, Seo Changbin. 

Who...apparently...loves pink? Noted. Seungmin’s tried to unpack that one, but to no avail. 

But now Jeongin is left with a mop of pastel, bubblegum pink locks. And a _ barely _ perceptible infatuation with Hyunjin still firmly implanted in his heart. 

Seungmin can still hear Jeongin’s 3 a.m. rant in their shared dorm room to this day: _ “Maybe I wouldn't still have a tiny, totally cool and fine crush on him if he didn't act so goddamn cute and nice all the time! Once I accidentally dropped my pencil in his general area, and he ran—RAN, Seungmin—to pick it up and give it back to me! Me, a nobody! How do you expect me not to have a crush on _ that _ !” _

And this was _ post- _bubble gum dye job. He can't really blame his best friend for still harboring a slight fixation on the boy, who is undoubtedly beautiful inside and out. 

You know what they say at their university: Once you Hyunj-in, you can’t Hyunj-out. 

Which reminds him: Hyunjin, The Pretty Boy™ who can bring _ anyone _to their knees with a single smile, is still gazing in Seungmin’s direction. 

That's...new. 

Seungmin obviously is acutely aware that Hyunjin is in his chemistry class—anyone with a _ brain _ and _ eyes _would be aware of that. Is it distracting? Marginally. Does Seungmin try to steal the occasional, oh-so casual glance at the aforementioned Adonis’ table? A resounding yes.

But Hyunjin being in his class isn't a novelty—he's become as used to it as someone in his place can be. Hyunjin, and his entrancing beauty, is simply a fact of life. 

This whole..._ staring-in-Seungmin’s-general-direction _ thing? Now _ that _ is something novel. _ That _ caught Seungmin’s attention. 

Shaking his head of milky chocolate locks, Seungmin swung back around in his seat to face Jeongin—who had been busying himself with their chemistry work while his best friend apparently traveled through space and time while scoping out the rest of the class. 

“Jeongin, you mean Hwang Hyunjin?” Seungmin asked, totally _ not _keeping his voice down in the slightest. “He's probably looking at you, strawberry head.” He teased his rosy-haired buddy with a wicked smirk. 

What else could Hyunjin be staring so intently at? Seungmin? That's a funny joke. Why on _ earth _ would someone like _ Hwang Hyunjin _ be looking so fervently at someone like _ Kim Seungmin. _ Seungmin is _ boring. _Seungmin might as well be the fourth patron saint of high school stereotypes: 

Seungmin, The Nerd™. 

Seungmin is the star of the science department. Seungmin has single handedly won every robotics competition to pass through their area of Seoul, with so much ease it’s as if his hands were tied behind his back. Seungmin has boring brown hair and boring circular wire-frame glasses perched on his nose and a boring mole above his chin.

Seungmin is _ boring. _Simple as that. 

Seungmin is stained lab coats that are long overdue for a wash, the acrid scent of rust remover and the remnant bitters of his daily iced americanos. Seungmin is utterly _ beige. _

Hyunjin? Hyunjin is the _ antithesis _ of boring. Hyunjin is a shock of neon in a world of dreary grey. Hyunjin is the molten excitement of running down empty streets at 1 in the morning. Hyunjin is dancing under fairy lights and getting cotton candy stuck in your hair from eating it with so much vigor. Hyunjin is life, and love and _ joy _all bundled up with a bow and converging into a single human being.

And maybe, Seungmin understands why everyone with a working heart has a crush on him. 

And maybe, Seungmin had joined their ranks months ago—but he'd rather burn his myriad of robotics trophies before he admits that to _ anyone _. Even Jeongin. 

Jeongin, who Hyunjin _ must _ be staring at right now. Seungmin doesn't blame him, Jeongin sticks out like a sore thumb with those unnatural pastel locks of his. Did it sting a little to know the only reason—the only _ logical _reason—Hyunjin is still gazing their way is because of his best friend’s wild hair? Maybe. Will Seungmin admit that before he lies on his deathbed? Never. 

And he'd be lying if he didn't revel, just a tad, in the horrified expression to twist Jeongin’s features, and the ruby red flush an even deeper hue than his pink hair that burst onto his cheeks.

What he also missed, when he turned back around to face Jeongin, was the knowing smile to tug onto a certain Pretty Boy’s lips. 

“Hey! Not so loud, dumbass! Can't you tell I purposely censored his name before?! You know, for the _ ‘science genius’ _you can be pretty dumb, Seungmin.” Jeongin half-whispered, half-shrieked as he threw his pen down in frustration. He ran a large hand through his pastel tresses in the purest form of exasperation there is, and Seungmin couldn't help but think how his hair truly looks like he dunked his head in a vat of fizzy strawberry milk. 

But it was now Seungmin’s turn to roll his eyes—“He's not _ Voldemort, _ Jeongin. You're not gonna summon him by saying his fucking _ name.” _Seungmin drawled, seeming to conveniently miss how his best friend's eyes widened and widened to the point where it looks like polished dinner plates were nestled where his eyes should be. 

“Are you sure about that?” 

Seungmin’s breath hitched in his throat. Actually, scratch that—his breath _ froze _in his throat, like he shoveled an arctic blizzard down his gullet for lunch. 

He knows that voice. _ Everyone _ on _ campus _knows that voice. 

So that's why Jeongin’s eyes are bugging out of his head, and his cheeks are the same heated red as autumn candy apples. 

And if Seungmin squints hard enough, he can pick out a figure—tall and lean, and impossibly beautiful—reflected in the mirror-like surface of Jeongin’s agape eyes. 

Seungmin gulped. Seungmin forced away the blush creeping up his neck. And then, Seungmin turned around. 

There, standing in contrapposto like he's some classical sculpture magically become sentient, is Hwang Hyunjin—pretty boy extraordinaire. 

Maybe he is Voldemort. Seungmin will have to look into that later; he _ knew _ this college desperately needed a defense against the dark arts class! “ _ Your nerd is showing, idiot.”, _ Jeongin had jeered with a good natured smirk at the club fair, when Seungmin had boldly suggested his Harry Potter-themed club to the board of directors. Needless to say, his precious defense against the dark arts class is still... _ in the works. _

But Seungmin has _ bigger problems _ to deal with than the magic-adjacent club he so desperately wants to bring to fruition. And that problem conveniently rhymes with _ Wang Yunjin _.

Even in his cheap, campus-store issued lab coat, Hyunjin looks _ immaculate. _ He looks like someone draped the thread-bare excuse for lab protection on Michelangelo’s _ David. That's _how gorgeous Hyunjin is. 

“O-oh, hi H-hyunjin!” Seungmin sputtered while plastering on a strained smile, forcing the stilted words past the hundred pound lump now wedged in his throat. 

Hyunjin's plush lips that constantly look enrobed in pure satin pulled into a lazy, genuine smile. It virtually radiated warmth, and Seungmin felt himself begin to sweat beneath the meager insulation of his thin lab coat. 

“I thought I heard you mention my name, Seungminnie.” Hyunjin continued, linking his arms behind his back and gracefully teetering from one foot to the other. 

God, he's even inhumanly gorgeous just _ standing _there. It's not fair. Seungmin will stand by that fact till the day he dies.

Which, what a coincidence, might be right about now—because _ “Seungminnie”?! _ Hyunjin has _ never _ called Seungmin _ that _before, in spite of them having only spoken a handful of times in the past. 

Seungmin acutely felt his heart attempt to bust through his ribs like a rampaging elephant. 

“O-oh! Me and _ Jeongin,” _Seungmin gritted out, electing to ignore his new nickname while elbowing his pink-haired cohort in the ribs, “Thought we caught you staring our way.” Seungmin doesn't know where this sudden brazen streak is coming from, but he's going to ride the wave of faux-assuredness as far as it takes him. 

After _ that _ little comment Seungmin swears he heard Jeongin’s heart stutter to a halt in his chest, forcing him to splutter and cough like a glitching robot before their eyes. And trust Seungmin when he says he knows _ exactly _what that looks like. 

Hyunjin’s innocent little smile suddenly twitched into a sly, impish grin. It’s still bright enough to put the sun out of business, but it also struck an icicle of pure terror through Seungmin’s rib cage. 

“Oh, yeah. Guess I wasn't being as sneaky as I thought.” Hyunjin drawled, and Seungmin swears he saw a meteor shower race across his eyes, swears he saw Hayley’s comet dash across his honeyed irises while he spoke. Maybe one of the shooting stars dancing across his eyes lost its course one day, and fell from his eye—becoming the single, artfully placed birthmark right below his bottom lashes. 

“Sneaky?” Seungmin parroted back, tilting his head of chestnut hair in a very lost puppy-like manner. 

Jeongin hasn't moved in a while. Seungmin fears his soul official seeped from his body.

Hyunjin nodded, taking his bottom lip between his teeth to stifle the devilish grin threatening to bunch his sculpted cheeks. 

“I was staring because you're cute, Seungminnie. We should go out sometime. Only if you'd want to, of course!” Hyunjin’s unbreakable facade of poise and control faltered, as he clumsily tacked on the final sentiment of his..._ confession?! _

Did _ Hwang Hyunjin _ just confess to _ Kim Seungmin?! _

This must be some sort of sick joke, he can't _ possibly _be serious! 

The Pretty Boy™ and The Nerd™?! That just doesn't _ happen! _Not in real life anyways! 

Seungmin heard glass shattering between his ears. In reality, a table a few rows down accidentally smashed their beaker on the floor. To Seungmin? That's the sound of his sanity exploding to jagged shrapnel in his rapidly crumbling brain. 

“Y-you're joking right...this is a joke...right?” Seungmin choked out, his voice some strained median between incredulous shock and resigned acceptance that _ this isn't happening. This simply is not happening. My caffeine withdrawals are something fierce, that’s all. _

Hyunjin chuckled. It sounded like the clearest, most melodic windchime in the summer breeze.

“I'm serious, Seungmin. I've liked you for a while, so I guess my staring got the better of me today and indirectly forced me into confessing.” Hyunjin mused, bringing a hand up to rub at the back of his neck as his doe-eyes darted to the tiled, cracked floor of the chemistry room. 

Seungmin’s eyes bulged out of his head like a goddamn _ dead fish. _ His head whipped around, his once perfectly styled brown hair becoming a disheveled mess as he frantically looked for the hidden cameras that _ must _be trained on him in his Hyunjin-induced stupor. 

There’s no cameras. There’s no burst of confetti, followed by a hyperactive tv-show host popping out from behind his desk and shrieking at him that he’s been _ “pranked!” _

There’s just Hwang Hyunjin gazing at him, eyes soft and expectant and harboring more stars than the Milky Way galaxy. The Milky Way _ wishes _it could be as radiant as Hyunjin’s eyes. 

Maybe this isn’t a prank, or a sick joke, or a startlingly realistic fever dream. 

Maybe this is real life, and Seungmin shouldn’t stare at Hyunjin with his jaw threatening to plummet through the floor for a second longer. 

“Oh my go—yes! I mean, yes, that would be...very nice.” Seungmin tried to rein in his palpable elation as best he could, but he could feel it emanating off him in tidal waves of euphoria that threatened to knock their building right off its foundation. His heart is racing like a prized thoroughbred in his chest, blanketing his body in vibrating static. 

Hyunjin’s smile widened, somehow becoming even _ more _luminant. Seungmin feared the light from his smile would short-circuit their university's entire power grid. 

Class ended around them as the decrepit wall clock struck noon. Papers were expertly packed and supplies scooped up to return to their respective carts as the other students filed out of the chem room. 

But Hyunjin and Seungmin might as well be frozen in time; might as well have their lives paused by some all-powerful deity above the heavens. 

“Wonderful. How about we go out after class tomorrow?” Hyunjin suggested like he’s merely asking Seungmin if he can borrow a pencil, like the question isn’t what Seungmin has only imagined leaving his plush lips in his most primal and lucid of dreams. 

_ Tomorrow. _

Seungmin’s always been ambivalent towards the concept of the future—_ tomorrow, _ being included. But right now? Tomorrow is the most exciting thing he’s ever imagined. He’s counting the minutes, the _ seconds _until tomorrow. 

“That sounds..._ perfect.” Like you, _ Seungmin thought to himself while managing to _ also _speak relatively chorently. Who knew he could multitask so well under pressure? 

“See you tomorrow, Hyunjin.” He slid in before his sanity dissolved into billows of steam wafting from his ears once again. He met the tall, unfathomably lovely boy with his most steady, non-trembling smile, and it was as if the universe skidded into some perfect alignment, just for them. Hyunjin smiled at Seungmin, Seungmin smiled at Hyunjin—and for a few blissful seconds, the world was perfect. 

_ See you tomorrow, Hyunjin. _ The words sound so...right. Like they’ve always been in him, waiting to escape his lips. Like they’ve been tattooed on the underside of his tongue his whole life, lying in wait until their time to shine came to realization. 

Hyunjin left him with a smile brimming with affection, and endearment, and maybe even a smidgen of love, if Seungmin were to be completely objective. It’s the only scientific thing to do, of course. 

And with that, Hyunjin gathered his books from where they laid petrified on his desk by the window, and glided out of class like a skater on a rink of polished ice. 

A shuddering sigh tore from Seungmin’s lips. Did that...really just happen? 

It must have, because before he could even _ attempt _ to react, he was tackled from behind by a familiar pair of lanky arms. “I can’t _ believe this! _ My best friend is going on a date with _ the _Hwang Hyunjin!” It’s Jeongin, who Seungmin may or may not have temporarily forgot existed. He’d never admit that to his best friend—just like he never admitted his debilitating crush on Hwang Hyunjin.

Jeongin sounds so...excited? Happy? _ Joyous? _ Simply because _ Seungmin _ is going on a date with the guy _ Jeongin _has had a crush on for the same time if not longer than Seungmin himself? 

Now _ that _ is true friendship, right there. 

After what felt like an eternity of the two shrieking and giggling like children on a sugar-rush, Seungmin dazedly packed up his work and left the classroom that single handedly changed his life. 

He felt like clouds were strapped to his feet, felt like he was walking on air as he and Jeongin made their way through the winding hallways of their college. Happiness erupted through his core, and it felt like electric butterflies and tingling orange lightning and flames of joy licking his skin. 

He briefly checked his watch; he’s gonna be late for his literature class. 

Oh well. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t find it within himself to care.

All he could think about is _ tomorrow _. 

Tomorrow, that can’t come soon enough.

**Author's Note:**

> Seungmin: exists  
No one:  
me: you think you love my little boy more than me? I’ll suck ur eyes from ur skull ill pull ur heart from ur toes no one loves my boy more than me 
> 
> kudos/comments are extremely appreciated and are my motivation to write!


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